Lindsey Hoshaw is a freelance journalist based in Boston who writes about technology and the environment. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Scientific American among others.

Buying local helps schools thrive

What if your daily cup of coffee helped Ms. Smith’s second grade class buy microscopes for a science project? This is the idea behind Swellr, a Boston-based startup that lets consumers buy gift certificates online, use them at local businesses and decide which school benefits from the transaction.

Think DonorsChoose meets Groupon. “DonorsChoose is great because you can make a direct impact into a specific classroom and people like that accountability,” said Swellr co-founder Nathan Rothstein.

“With Swellr, what we’re saying is instead of donating, you can shop in your local community through gift certificates and a percentage will go toward a classroom project.”

The company, which was started by three Boston area natives, “opened its doors” for business yesterday by posting its first gift certificates online.

Here’s how it works. You go online to Swellr and buy a gift certificate for a local store, say a restaurant, boutique or grocery store. You pick a gift certificate amount ranging from $50-$300. Then you look at the school projects pitched on the site and choose one you want to support.

The business you purchased from will donate up to 30% of the money spent on your gift certificate to the project you selected. The percentage will be listed on the site so you can see which businesses will donate the most.

Then, you pop into the local business and show them your printed voucher or an image of the code on your smartphone and you’re done. Eleven businesses have signed up for the service and Swellr is in talks with about 30 others.

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